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Name: Eunhye Jeong
Nationality: Korean
Occupation: Pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, writer
Recent Release: Eunhye Jeong's End of Time / KM-53 Project Vol. 1 is out October 7th 2022 via 577.
Recommendations: Book: Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does by Philip Ball; Music: Lines Blend by Chiri (feat. Simon Barker / Scott Tinkler / Bae, Il-Dong)

If you enjoyed this interview with Eunhye Jeong and would like to find out more about her music and projects, visit her official website. She is also on Facebook, and twitter.

For the views of one of her collaborators, read our Waddada Leo Smith interview.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

I started improvising on piano at the age of 4. That’s when I didn’t know it was described as such. My mom taught me some basics of music then I got to get lessons in a local piano studio, perhaps when I was around 6.

Fast forward, Thelonious Monk inspired me to pursue music seriously. At that time, I was deeply invested in making sense of the world through philosophy, aesthetics and a wide-array of other subjects of study often visiting contemporary museums and galleries in Seoul. That was when I was 19 or 20, I think. I didn't have a clear reason as to why Monk's music sounded special, meaningful and so speaking to me. There are many interpretations of his music out there, however none have captured the essence of his music that I felt connected to. In my humble opinion, none of those I heard have unlocked the 'source', as I see it.

Later, I discovered Matthew Shipp, and I detected that same spirit as Monk in Matthew Shipp's music I was looking for. He wrote an article called Black Mystery School Pianists which was published on New Music USA in 2020. This article gave me a clear perspective on why I was drawn to Monk's music and jazz in general.

Besides that my personal experience with Monk's music was like this: I saw geometric shapes that were more than 3 dimensional. And I heard naivety, ancient souls, bittersweet joys of life -- the bitterness and pain undertoned in such dancible music is often overlooked. He moved beyond the existing theories of music and harmony. His music was life full.
 
When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I do perceive music in a synaesthetic way like you for sure. There are certain types of music that appear to penetrate or literally transfer to my consciousness directly; I tentatively listen to those that don't work like this just as a distanced observer. When the former type of listening experience occurs, I usually see geometric shapes moving, just like what I mentioned earlier to describe Thelonious Monk’s music.

The senses I get to engage are auditory and visual as well as tactile; the tactile sensation usually gets transformed into a visual in my head while processing the experience. So, in a way, all the inspirations I "receive", which I then interpret into different sensory information, will manifest auditorily on my piano. Instead of making logically cohesive compositions that are easily recognizable, I execute what comes directly from my brain, senses, body, and emotions. As opposed to sleek products that may evoke people's desire to buy.

I let my music grow organically from a "seed" and let it unfold its own life. Then it creates patterns by itself whilst interacting with other external elements such as the performance environment, audience, etc, just like the patterns we find in nature such as fractals. This is how I achieve a sense of cohesiveness that is more natural, which bears both complexity and simplicity. The beauty of this type of aesthetics is that it's open, I mean, entirely open and flexible to ever changing time and space.

When it comes to 'seed,' not only do I create my own music from seeds, I also perceive and process the music of others I listen to in a corresponding fashion. It's like making epic sonic experiences into a lump of sound, not a series of sonic passages unfolding linearly. I might be because I am a pretty intuitive type of person.

Similary, I once composed a piece called TMMSS, “time mass” with omitted vowels. Vowels are where seeds are planted, grow upward (branches, leaves, etc) and downward (roots), and blossom. Consonants are the seeds. This idea is based on the philosophy and the system of the Hangul, Korean alphabet. Anyhow, when I was composing it, I felt compelled to compress the idea of the composition for myself so as to hold onto its essence, or 'seed.' It allowed me to unfold my finale score sequentially while keeping it to the core message with more ease. That's why I used only the consonants of the word in the title as well as a graphic score for a section.

I can say my music-making is a reflection of my listening experience and the way I perceive and process it.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Who is a person? As a person, what or who am I? That's a question I'll ask and answer throughout my life.

My first attempt at answering this question was premature. My approach was to see myself as a completely independent entity. This was despite the fact that I was well aware that I was connected to other beings, society, the environment, etc. It must have been because I was a teenager with so little experience in life. In the end, I realized my actions would define my life and determine who I was. As such, I simply ventured out to live it, not thinking too much! I had gone through college, survived in a foreign country, and made music all the while.

And yes, the quest to connect my 'being' with music, or finding my voice as you worded, wasn't easy. I've studied Western european music, learned and played jazz standards, composed in conventional ways for myself and others and so on. I felt that I could only engage a fraction of myself with those.

Then, I traveled to Banff, Canada for a very intense three week jazz and creative workshop. I was put into an ensemble Tyshawn Sorey taught. Early in the morning, we gathered in a room and the first thing we did was to play open. I was not in this environment in my formal education.

I immediately clicked. I didn't realize that was a thing. I was able to create something that's meaningful and very akin to my existence, putting out messages that I truly believed in. No longer did I have to confine myself to the messages embedded in their compositions or songs, like jazz standards. With the form I created to support my message, I was able to communicate my message without squeezing it into something like an unfit dress.

Well, of course, that's not the end of the story. In this work I grapple with the elusive and fragile nature of this form, which if not handled correctly often falls into meaningless acts of sonic display. I messaged Wadada Leo Smith to learn his musical languages and compositions. I visited him once or twice a year I think since 2018, and played in his ensemble once in Connecticut. I have learned to boil down my musical aesthetics into a core and a center, eliminating the unnecessary.

Things were coming together slowly. And here I am. I feel my musical voice has become clearer than in the past.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

This is not necessarily due to the fact that I am biologically, ethnically, or nationally Korean. It's because I identify with the Korean historical continuum and have developed my worldview accordingly. As well, having my mother tongue being Korean is a big part of my identity.

My quest to really understand what it means to be Korean led me to study Korean philosophy and traditional music in depth since 2011. The truth is that a lot of the traits and philosophical basis of what has structured Korean society and culture up until now seem to be hidden dimly under the surface of what Koreans see and know.

Also, I am a creative musician. In a nutshell, I am interested in creating original music, embracing the modern, contemporary, avant-garde as well as traditional. When a musical work reaches the level of true creativity, those seemingly opposite ends do not conflict and shouldn't. Staying encroached by an old system that only has shells without the essence is simply a mannerism which does not work for me. I wanted to find a way of creatively expressing myself.

What I currently do allows me to carry my originality, personality, and message to the world via sonic structures I developed or something I can relate to. "No one pours new wine into old wineskins," as the Bible says.

At the same time, we need to train ourselves to see the same old things with open eyes. This spring is not the same spring as the year before. The tree I saw in a park the day before isn't the same the next day, and vice versa. Being aware of the ever-changing nature of life and the universe, and the ability to make the old aspects of sound relevant to us in the present, and to listen to that quality is ultimately creative.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Agility, vitality, mortality, sound as a material, healing wounds in history, finding a big thing in a small thing, and a small thing in a big thing that's hidden and obvious patterns in nature, implementing goodness in the world through my music, etc.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in "music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

I like the idea of "music of the future", which is made in the present.

Anyway, I've already touched on this topic in answering the previous question, but I could add some more here.

Originality can be achieved when an artist keeps on smelting herself over time. Innovation can be made when that original something actually works in a society and is viewed as such. Perfection does not mean slick, polished craftsmanship, but rather the ability to survive with vigor through time and given circumstances. The kind of music I consider to have achieved a kind of perfection is usually disguised by an appearance that is simple and imperfect.

Timelessness. I see music broken down into molecules integrated into our daily lives, forming our culture. In this regard, I want to share my recent listening experience, which also relates to the new v.s the tradition.

I had the opportunity to attend a Korean traditional music live concert many years after the last one I saw. I heard the same songs that I learned to sing. I had heard them countless times in the past but the music on that day sounded astonishingly new. I realized that the same song can sound vastly different, fresh and new, even innovative because of the variants that performers can create acoustically.

Furthermore, one master performer can tear down and penetrate our reality bubble, or the preconceived notions of what we believed and experienced the music to be. That performance I am referring to was so astoundingly present and blew my mind. The subtle changes in vocal textures, breathing and sweats the performer shed … All these elements brought traditional music up to date, and there we had a true creative moment.

Tradition is about passing on the spirit, not the shell, or the spirit and the shell together.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Spending a substantial amount of time on my main instrument, practicing hours and hours intentionally, is what every musician does.

Besides that, being the type of person I am, keeping journals in a well-bound notebook with a fountain pen was extremely helpful. I have so many ideas. I am prone to absorbing large quantities of information at one glance, which requires me to dedicate time and space to processing the information. As a result, I unearth great ideas and remain inspired, staying more in the flow. By writing freely, I can switch between subjects quickly and think simultaneously. Later I can organize them and transform them into something I can share with the world.

There are others, such as asking myself well thought-out questions, searching for the answers, observing and staying close to nature, meditating on the morphological algorithm in everything doing music.